Electric shaver



Oct. 20, 1942. I R. KNOPP ELECTRIC SHAVER Filed Jan. 6, 1941 2 fig 2315 3 I Z Patented Oct. 20, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE ELECTRIC SHAVER Rudolph Knopp,

St. Louis, Mo., assignor to Knapp-Monarch Company, St. Louis, Mo., a corporation of Missouri 1 Claim.

My present invention relates to an electric shaver of the vibratory type as distinguished from one in which the shaver head is operated by an electric motor.

One object of the invention is to provide vibrator mechanism particularly designed to fit within a casing, which is of suitable size to be held within the hand of the user during the shaving operation, yet which delivers plenty of power to operate the shaver and cause it to efiiciently out even the toughest of beards.

Another object of the invention is to provide a vibratory shaver including vibrator mechanism which may be made at comparatively small cost and which requires but a minimum of operations for its assembly.

A further object is to provide a shaver having a casing in which a vibrator is mounted, the vibrator having an alternating current operating coil mounted on the center leg of a three-leg core, a laminated armature being supported adjacent the pole faces of the legs of the core, and the core itself being rigidly anchored in a simple manner to the casing.

A further object is to provide a laminated armature which is held assembled by rivets that also serve as a means to secure to the armature an anchor bar for one end of the armature and an actuator for its other end.

A still further object is to provide bumpers for the actuator arms so as to minimize noise in operation, the bumpers being formed of rubber bar stock and the casing having grooves or sockets to receive and retain them, thus effecting economy in the provision of the bumper mechanism for the actuating arm of the vibrator.

Still a further object is to provide a simple arrangement of prongs to supply current to the coil of the vibrator, the prongs being mounted in a mounting block and the block in turn being arranged to so coact with the casing of the shaver that it is held against displacement in any direction when the cover of the casing is secured in position.

An additional object is to provide means for mounting a shaver head in the casing so that it may be readily pulled out of position when it is desired, yet is efiectively retained in position after once being inserted in a socket provided therefor in the casing.

With these and other objects in view, my invention with respect to its features which I believe to be novel and patentab-le will be pointed out in the claim appended hereto. For a better further objects relating to details of economy of my invention, reference is made to the following description and to the accompanying drawing wherein such further object will definitely appear, and in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of my shaver with the cover removed from the casing and the screws for holding the shaver in position being shown in section;

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional View on the line 2-2 of Figure 1, showing the shaver on an enlarged scale;

Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional view on the line 3-4 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a sectional view on the line 4-4 of Figure 2, and

Figure 5 is an enlarged sectional view on the line 55 of Figure 1.

On the accompanying drawing I have used the reference character C to indicate generally a casing and C a cover therefor. Within the casing C a pair of bosses ill and i2 are provided on which is mounted a core shown generally at C". The core C" has a central leg 13 and a pair of end legs [4 and i5. The legs l4 and 15 receive screws I6 which extend into the bosses Ill and I2 for mounting the core C rigidly within the casing C. The core C is formed of laminae which are secured together as by rivets ll.

Secured to the core leg [5 by rivets I8 I provide a U-shaped plate i9. One arm 20 of an L-shaped anchor member A is in turn secured to the cross piece of the U-shaped plate I9 by rivets 2|. The other arm 22 of the anchor member is secured by rivets 23 to a laminated armature A. The rivets 23 serve also to retain the laminae assembled relative to each other. Similarly rivets 24 aid in retaining the laminae assembled and secure an arm 25 of an actuator member A" to the armature at the opposite end from the anchor member A. The actuator A" has its second arm 26 terminating in a substantially right angular bend 21 and an actuating end 28. The portion 21 is located between a pair of bumpers B and B. The bumpers B and B are received in sockets or grooves 29 and 30 respectively of the casing C with their lower ends squeezed into sockets 3i (see Figure 3) to retain the bumpers against dislocation. The arrangement is such that rubber bar stock out into suitable lengths may be used as the bumpers B and B.

In operation I have found that the bumper B detailed understanding of the invention, and should be larger n th mper B because there is greater pull of the core C" on the arma ture A than the return tension of the anchor member A.

The actuating end 28 of the actuator A extends into a shaver head H having an outer cutter 32 and an inner cutter 33. The inner cutter is provided with a slot 34 to receive the actuator 28 whereby vibrations of the actuator will reciprocate the inner cutter relative to the outer cutter in a well known manner.

The head H is provided with a pair of longitudinally extending grooves 35 in its opposite face and the head is adapted to seat against oneface 36 of a socket in the casing C. The head is retained in position against the face 35 by spring fingers 31 having perforated anchor feet 38. The feet 38 are secured by screws 39 to the casing C. The cover C is secured to the casing by screws 40.

On the center core leg l3 a coil 4| is provided which may be energized with alternating current to secure the vibrating operation. Current-conducting leads 42 extend from the coil 4| to a pair of prongs 43. The prongs 43 are mounted in a block 44 having its ends received in sockets 45 of the casing C. The block is thus held against displacement longitudinally of the casing. It is also held against lateral displacement by the casing cover C in the closed position thereof as is obvious from an inspection of Figure 2.

The block 44 has a wing 46 to electrically separate the leads 42 and the prongs 43. Between the wing 46 and the rivets 2| a sheet of insulation 4'! is provided to prevent any possibility of a short circuit or ground developing. The leads 42 extend across the upper edge of the insulating sheet 4? as shown in Figure 2.

From the foregoing description it is obvious that my vibratory shaver involves the use of a minimum number of parts and, in assembly, a minimum number of screws are necessary. The entire shaver mechanism can be assembled and its operation tested before it is placed within the casing C and cover C. Parts such as the block 44 and the sheet 41 are retained efiectively in position when the cover is placed on the casing without the need of further fastening means. The armature laminae are held together by rivets that anchor it to the parts A and A" to provide a rugged moving assembly.

The anchor member A is made of special spring steel alloy of predetermined thickness and width to secure the desired resiliency for vibration of the armature.

The bumpers B and B are efiectively retained in position and it is impossible to displace them during operation when the cover C is mounted in position, as it prevents any upward movement of them out of the casing C, as will be obvious by an inspection of Figure 3. The bumpers are comparatively thin so as to have maximum effectiveness and to limit the throw of the actuator A" to a desirably predetermined throw. The use of thick bumpers varies such throw greatly depending on current strength variation whereas, for a shaver to operate efiiciently, the throw must be held to rather close limits. The bumpers also have considerable area to be engaged by the actuator to thus minimize wear of the bumpers.

Having described one specific embodiment of my invention together with the operation thereof, I desire it to be understood that this form is selected merely for the purpose of facilitating disclosure of the invention rather than for the purpose of limiting the number of forms which it may assume. It is to be further understood that various modifications, adaptations and alterations may be applied to the specific form disclosed to meet the requirements of practice without in any manner departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention except as set forth in the claim appended hereto.

I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States:

In a vibratory motor having a casing, an armature and an actuator operatively connected with said armature, said casing having a pair of grooves adjacent said actuator opening toward each other and provided with sockets at their ends, and bumpers of rubber like material received in said grooves and having projections into said sockets. V

RUDOLPH KNOPP. 

